Globalization of tephrochronology: new views from Australasia

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dc.contributor.authorLowe, David J.
dc.date.accessioned2009-01-21T01:23:00Z
dc.date.available2009-01-21T01:23:00Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractTephra (or volcanic ash) studies, once confined largely to volcanic lands, have become increasingly practised in countries far removed from areas of active or recent volcanism – and Australia is no exception. At the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) conference in Cairns in July/August 2007, Sarah E. Coulter (née Davies), now a postdoctoral ice-core tephrochronologist at Queen’s University Belfast, reportedthe first occurrence of an exotic tephra in Australia in a core from Lynch’s Crater, Atherton Tableland, Queensland (Figure 1). The distal tephra, manifest as a tiny concentration of glass shards, was probably derived from a Papua New Guinean eruption around 75,000–80,000 years ago (S.E. Davies et al., 2007). Its value lies in providing a precise chronostratigraphic marker that potentially allows correlation of other long palaeoenvironmental sequences over wide distances. Davies’ study is but one of a revolutionary development in tephrochronology now focused on detecting diminutive, distal tephras that are invisible in the field and referred to as cryptotephras. From the Greek word kryptein, meaning ‘to hide’ (Hunt, 1999a; Hunt and Hill, 2001; Lowe and Hunt, 2001), cryptotephras typically comprise fine-ashsized (< ~100 μm) glass shards sparsely preserved and ‘hidden’ in peats or in lake, marine or aeolian sediments, or in ice cores (Figure 2). The cryptotephra theme is continued in section III, but beforehand nomenclature associated with the term ‘tephra’, which can be confusing and which sometimes is used incorrectly, is outlined.en
dc.identifier.citationLowe, D. J. (2008). Globalization of tephrochronology: new views from Australasia. Progress in Physical Geography, 32(3), 311-335en
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/0309133308091949en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10289/1827
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSageen
dc.relation.isPartOfProgress in Physical Geographyen_NZ
dc.relation.urihttp://ppg.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/32/3/311en
dc.subjecttephrochronologyen
dc.titleGlobalization of tephrochronology: new views from Australasiaen
dc.typeJournal Articleen
pubs.begin-page311en_NZ
pubs.elements-id33200
pubs.end-page335en_NZ
pubs.issue3en_NZ
pubs.volume32en_NZ
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